Some new pics!

He's not always a fan of 'tummy time' but this time he was having fun :)

Football fan in training.

He's getting so big!

His tongue is sooooo long!

Big beautiful blue eyes

An update.... :-)

These last few days have been a bit wearing on mommy. A little boy that doesn't want to take his naps is not so fun. Well at least won't go to sleep without holding him. My hope is that it's a little phase and it will end soon. Tomorrow is a new day right? :) Even when sometimes I feel so tired because he is just crying and won't sleep, I pick him up and he lays his precious little head on my shoulder and falls asleep, and all my frustration just goes away. It is the most heart warming feeling to have my precious baby sleeping on me, I absolutely love it. God knows exactly what we mothers need when we're tired too.....a little boy sleeping on me or a big smile just melts my heart! :)

Anyhow, Carson has began sitting! He'll sit there and often hold his little feet (as he does often anyway) and just look around. So adorable. He's so proud of himself too, he'll look at you and get the biggest grin on his face, we love it. He has not yet mastered this new position, but he's gotten a lot better over the last 2 weeks. Once he gets his balance, he'll sit for a while, look around, play, watch us, and then.....topple over. It's quite entertaining for us. Of course on the hard floor we catch him but on our bed, he just falls and it's kind of funny...he doesn't seem to mind at all.

He's just a little chunk-a-monk isn't he?! :)

So cute!

Ben loves this one....ride'n cowboy!

Always such a smiley boy!

He is very alert and watches everything. And oh boy, if you have anything in you hand, he WILL reach for it and of course it goes straight to the mouth. Some things it's funny to see the look on his face once it actually gets into his mouth and he realizes, yuk this does not taste good.

Playing Peek-a-boo w/daddy

Laughing!

Some good belly laughs :)

Where to begin...

It has been so long since either of us has posted anything....So sorry about that! Here's what's been going on in our lives the last month.
After a long house hunt (we wrote 6 offers and I will add that every offer was a full price offer, no low-ball'n) we FINALLY got a wonderful home. We got the keys mid July and moved our bed and some of Carson's stuff over that night so we could stay in our new home the very first night. We were quite excited, what can I say. So that whole next week we moved stuff every day. We had some wonderful help from family and friends which I will add a great big THANK YOU to! So, with moving meant being constantly on the go....not so good for a baby. By day 2 we realized that this was not going to work, we had a ourselves a fussy baby boy. So we tried to be home more (well at least I was so that Ben could move stuff) so that Carson could get back on his schedule. It was still a difficult week but we got through it.
Now it's been a few weeks and it's kind of starting to feel like a home....slowly. It's taking a while to get photos and wall hangings up but we're working on it. Seems like if I want to hang stuff one of the boys is always sleeping. Needless to say it's taken longer than I would have liked but that's ok. They definately need their sleep :)
We've been enjoying working out in the yard, mowing the grass, transplanting plants, getting rid of plants we don't like, etc. It's actually quite fun, I had missed being able to do yard work. Oh and I cannot forget the 2 new members to our family....our kittens! I just love them, they're so spunky and full of energy, sometimes too much but I still love them. Ben might say otherwise though... but deep down he likes them :)
So that's the update with our living situation! We are so happy here and so thankful to have our first home! Now onto something else...our handsome baby boy!
Carson is now 4 1/2 months old. We're not sure how he got to be this old, but he has. He is doing so many new things, almost every day there's something new it seems like. He loves to smile, all the time, such a happy boy. And if he's not smiling he's looking at you with a very intense look, it's quite funny. He found his toes and loves them, especially on the changing table. As soon as that diaper is off, his little toes are in his hands. It's just the cutest thing. He giggles, even laughs sometimes, drools a lot, sqeals A LOT when he gets excited, sucks on his fingers (usually 2 or 3 at a time), drools a lot, loves to stand, still working on the sitting thing but the bumbo seat is fun, loves to do airplane over your head, drools a lot (did I mention that)...there's a few things and there's tons more. He is absolutely our everything. He brings us so much joy and happiness, and the love that we have for him is incredible. So many other parents told me when I was pregnant about the undescribable love you have for your child when he is born but you never fully understand until your baby is here and it is so, so true. Children are a gift from the Lord!

Beautiful Blue eyes

(Sorry for the not so good lighting...)

Eating..

So a month ago...or probably longer, man time goes fast, he discovered that he can chew on his hands. They are constantly in his mouth. Ben always says he's 'eating his hands'. Well he has recently discovered (w/in the last week or so) that he can eat our skin too. If we're carrying him back to the changing table he's usually chewing on our shoulder. Or holding him on our lap, somehow our arm ends up in mouth. It's so funny! And of course he's eating his fingers as we speak :)

Little sneeze/smile

So I was sitting with Carson on my lap the other day and he started to sneeze. Usually he would sneeze a couple of times and then let out a mellow " Ohhhhhh". However, we had been smiling at each other, he has been smiling a lot lately, when the sneeze started. He was right in the middle of the sneeze, with the serious look on his face, when he cracked a smile and the sneeze went away. Then the cooing started. It was so funny to watch and my description does not do it justice. So many of these moments I wish I could get on camera but he is already camera shy...like his dad.

K here they are

See if you can spot when I dress him and when Bren dressed him.....

This is how pumped he gets to go running.

He was talking about how he blends with the seat here....

He is so excited about his new shoes.

Here is that smile, usually seen after he has peed on you....

3 Months Already

So as you have noticed that all of the previous posts have been by Bren. I am now trying my hand at this blogging thing....closely supervised of course. Carson is now 3 months old and he just a hoot. He has been talking our ears off about anything that comes to his mind. It's funny that he went from not really enjoying his daily diaper changes to having a great time on the changing table. He gets on there and starts running and running and running. We should post a video of it.....someday. You can tell that we are great at keeping this thing updated. Another thing that he loves to do on the changing table is be naked...and pee on the closest person. He has great timing. Just when you think that you have waited long enough or you're done playing....he strikes. He waits to the last minute while you're rolling the edges of the diaper and BAM! urine all over your hand...then he smiles. It's as if he is playing tag but he didn't bother to tell you until you're it.

One of his favorite things now is to stand in our laps. He is getting quite good and his muscles are getting stronger every day. Don't think that I would trust him to hold a cup of tea but he is getting there. We got one of those Baby Einstein videos for him and he really likes it. He sits in his chair and yells at the tv.....a future sports fan I think. Its been great to watch him as we enter and leave the room. He used to just sit there in a pile but now we know he is watching for us. Also from what I have ready he can pick out our voices (note: I was just corrected on that last sentence :) love you wife). I meant that he hears us and then actually looks for us.

I went to work one night and passed him off to mom.....he was not happy that I was leaving. It was a good feeling, I can say that cause I didn't stick around for the screaming, to know that I am missed and not just a guy that he pees on from time to time. We have been trying to keep up with taking pitures because he is growing by the minute. Not sure where he is getting his height from....not mom, but he seems so long. Lets just say that he is not going to starve to death.....linebacker. So here are a few of our recent pictures. On a last note; I went fishing....wait....hiking with my dad last weekend and talked to Bren after we had hiked to the top of the world. She mention that he was not sleeping well that day and I passed the news to dad. His first comment was that the apple does not fall far from the tree. I scoffed at the notion that he was talking about me because I was an angel....of course I do know that every parent hopes that there kids have kids just like they were when they were kids. Ok there kids' kids....yeah I think I got that rigtht. Anyway, the pictures.

2 months old!

Carson is now 2 months and we just can't believe it. He's gotten so big! He had his 2 month checkup last Thursday and he is one healthy boy. He's in the 75% for height and weight! We're not sure where the height is coming from... we'll see how long that lasts. He also got 3 shots that day too.... he wasn't so happy with those but he did calm down quickly after he realized he was done getting poked. Poor little guy, that was hard watching him cry because he was in pain and we couldn't do anything about it but we sure cuddled him right after!

He is 'talking' so much now, it's like you can have tiny conversations with him, well I like to think so. I know there's so much more to come as the months go on but this is sure a fun start :) He is also smiling a lot and man is that adorable! Big gummy grins are so cute!

From Mommy, to Mom, to Mother

Real Mothers don't eat quiche; they don't have time to make it.
Real Mothers know that their kitchen utensils are probably in the sandbox.
Real Mothers often have sticky floors, filthy ovens and happy kids.
Real Mothers know that dried play dough doesn't come out of carpets.
Real Mothers don't want to know what the vacuum just sucked up.
Real Mothers sometimes ask 'Why me?' and get their answer when a little voice says, 'Because I love you best.'
Real Mothers know that a child's growth is not measured by height or years or grade... It is marked by the progression of Mommy to Mom to Mother...

The Images of Mother
4 YEARS OF AGE - My Mommy can do anything!
8 YEARS OF AGE - My Mom knows a lot! A whole lot!
12 YEARS OF AGE - My Mother doesn't really know quite everything.
14 YEARS OF AGE - Naturally, Mother doesn't know that, either.
16 YEARS OF AGE - Mother? She's hopelessly old-fashioned.
18 YEARS OF AGE - That old woman? She's way out of date!
25 YEARS OF AGE - Well, she might know a little bit about it!
35 YEARS OF AGE - Before we decide, let's get Mom's opinion.
45 YEARS OF AGE - Wonder what Mom would have thought about it?
65 YEARS OF AGE - Wish I could talk it over with Mom.

The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides. The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole, but true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows, and the beauty of a woman with passing years only grows! Please send this to 5 Moms today. If you don't, nothing bad will happen, but if you do, something good will: You will boost a Mother's spirits.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Doesn't this happen to every parent? Or no?

So yesterday we went to my friend Eroica's home so she could take some photos of Carson for a new marketing project she's doing. (She takes beautiful photos by the way: www.preciousportraits.org) We were out in her studio trying to get some photos and Carson was being a bit fussy so I fed him and he was still a little squirmy....The diaper bag was out by the family room so we went out there to change him. Oh, Suzy and her 3 boys were there too, I'll just throw that in there now. So there we are with a cleaned up, happy baby just laying on the floor and then Eroica mentions that maybe we should get some cute little naked shots of Carson since he's happy. That seemed like a good idea to me so I pick him up and off we went down the hall towards the studio. Well we never made it back to the studio...clean that is. I began to feel a wet warm sensation on my stomach..."Ah man he just peed on me" I said....and then he decided to pass a little gas...still ok I guess...AND THEN the explosion of POO came out and all over me it went!! On my arm, all over my shirt, oh and of course on the diaper that I was so casually holding in my other hand, ya know I was taking it back to the studio so I could put it on him once we were done with naked shots, well that didn't work out so well. Suzy and Eroica were both there to witness this all too I might add and oh man did they get a kick out of it! I did too I must say. Oh I forgot to add that as I was walking back to clean him and myself up from this mess, I turn around only to see that there's also poo all over Eroica's carpet! I felt SO bad. She was such a sweetheart though and said not to worry it's only carpet and she got here steam cleaner out right away and got it cleaned up but oh my gosh what a mess. I'm thinking I just must be extra special or something because Suzy has never had that happen to here and she's had 3 boys! So that was my lovely experience with getting poo'd on by my little boy :)
And just to add we never did get to finish the photo shoot.... Carson had only slept for 30min prior to going over there which isn't much of a nap so he just wasn't wanting to be posed. We tried...it didn't work.

But I hope you enjoyed wonderful my story and got a good chuckle! Oh the joys of parenthood! :-)

Carson is exploring his world

Carson has been loving to "talk" to us more and more all the time. His little voice is so precious and it's fun talking back to him. Often when he sneezes, and they come in mulitples (so cute), he then coo's afterwards, like it's a relief or something. It makes us laugh every time.
On May 1st he gave us his first real smile, it was so exciting that he was actually doing it while he was awake! He's been doing the smiling thing in his sleep since the beginning, which is still so cute, but to know he did it because he was looking at us and happy made a couple very excited parents! He's done a few more times since then and I can't wait to see it more and more.
He is such an observant little boy, always looking around at different colors or shapes... or sometimes it's just at the wall and I wonder what in the world he's looking at... Nevertheless he's seeing all sorts of new things and loves to look around. He follows us a lot, just watching, studying his mom and dad. It's the most amazing feeling to know that to this tiny little person you are, as parents, all he wants. You are their comfort, their security, their love, their provider, you are their everything.

Our beautiful baby

Photo shoot (well sorta)

Yesterday we went over to our sister in law, Janine's, home to do a little photo shoot of Carson. We did have a good time over there Janine and Aidan (the other 2 were napping), but it just goes to show you as parents that sometimes the little one has his own plan...and doesn't really want to have pictures taken of himself. Even though he was a fussy boy Janine did get some good photos I must say! And like she mentioned on her blog, I was thinking that since he had the pacifier in, we weren't going to get as good of shots...shows what I know because they turned out so cute! So since we threw his nap schedule we spent the afternoon of trying to console our precious baby... but he did finally crash once we got home. Mom and Dad were happy about that :)

5 weeks old

So Carson is now more than a month old and getting so big. It's quite sad to me that he doesn't fit into newborn clothes anymore. It's funny because Ben or I will try to put an outfit on him and it just won't fit, as much as I may try (I'm in denial I guess)...we can't believe it. It is true when people say that their kids grow so fast that sometimes they only get to wear an outfit once before they grow out of it...so sad because the outfits are so cute.

On another note... Why is it that parents have to show one another when there's an explosion in their child's diaper? I mean should't it be sufficient to just tell them (if they must) but why do we have to show the other parent. We just get so proud or something that we have to share it. Bill Cosby has a standup show about babies poo and it is so true, parents have to show off everything. (I would highly recommend that you watch it.) Maybe I can figure out how to put video clips on here....

A few cute ones.... :)

His diaper matches the boppy!

















Adorable feet!

He often sleeps with his little mouth open....so does his father :)

Excuse me, and why are you taking my picture?

Our little one

These past 4 weeks have been the most incredible experience in both of our lives. We have this precious new little life that we are just in awe of. Watching him sleep is a favorite past time of ours. He's so peaceful, so perfect. A couple days ago we were sitting on the couch and Ben got up with Carson to go change him and as they was walking away I got teary eyed just seeing Ben and then this tiny little head resting on his shoulder. I just thought how amazing it is that we have a baby boy, we have a family, we have a new life to look after and protect.

Our precious one

The joy of a child

Carson is now 12 days old (13 days in 2 hrs) and has been an absolute joy to have in our lives. He is such a good little man. Ben and I switch back and forth holding him all the time and are perfectly content just staring at him. He is so precious, so perfect for us. I didn't know how much love you can instantly have for someone until meeting my son. I have heard so many other mom's and dad's talk about the love you feel as soon as you see them but no one really knows until they have a baby of their own. I now understand the love that is so incredible and undescribable. On my wedding day my dad came into the dressing room to talk to me right before he was to walk me down the aisle and said something to me that I will always remember. He looked at me, told me how excited he was for me and how beautiful I looked and then his eyes began to fill with tears and he said, 'You know this is not going to be the best day of you life' I, kind of puzzled, said 'It won't be?' and he said 'No, the best day of your life is when you have a child as wonderful as you.' I now know what he meant. When he held my son for the first time, he said he was reminded of when he first held me and he then asked if I understood what he meant. And I definately did understand the very moment that I saw my son.
We thank the Lord for him and the joy that he brings us is the best thing we have ever experienced.

Carson comes into the world! (Labor & Delivery)

Sunday March 22, 2009 we met our incredibly handsome son Carson Lane at 11:24am. He is perfect and we instantly fell in love with him, even more so than when he was growing inside me. I'll share my story of the whole labor experience.
5am Sunday morning I felt some little contractions however was able to doze for a little longer until 6. They began to come more frequently so I thought a bath would be good to relax and in case it was false labor they theoretically would have subsided. It soon became clear it was definately NOT false labor. My contractions were 4 min apart lasting 20-30 seconds. I decided it was probably time to wake Ben up at 6:30 and let him know it was baby time. Made some coffee for him too... (figured it would be a long day since they say that often first time mom's can labor for up to 12 hours...or longer... yeah, not me) So he got up, we began making sure our bag was packed and my ctx's were getting closer together and lasting about 40 sec's. During my pregnancy we had read The Birth Book by Dr. Sears and it was great. It basically taught to focus on relaxing your body and not getting tense during each ctx. (Of course there was A LOT more great stuff, that's just what I focused on during them) So I just stayed still, closed my eyes, relaxed completely and got through them. I called my midwife to tell her what was going on and she said I was probably in the early stages of labor and to just relax at home, get stuff done, eat well, etc. Well I have to say that I don't think I stated clearly how intense the ctx's were, I was not able to talk through them and had to be completely still. So anyhow I did stay home for a while longer but was definately not able to move around much because they were getting closer together. By the time they were 2-3 min apart (9:45) I called the midwife again and she said come on in. So off we went to the hospital! Called my mom on the way there and she asked if she should come head over and I told her to hold off a bit in case I wasn't dialated very much, I didn't want her hanging around the hospital for hours.... boy was I wrong! I had 2 ctx's between the car and the check in desk and 2 more from there to the 4th floor. Baby was definately ready to come. Got into the delivery room, I was 8cm and +1 (Ben called the parents to tell them we were staying and it was close so to head on down) after 2 more ctx's I felt I was ready to push, I was 10cm and complete... Ready, set, GO! I was so excited in this moment because we were about to meet this precious new life. After about 10-15 min our beautiful baby boy was born! (We didn't know what sex we were having and were very surprised it was a boy!) He was born at 11:24am, weighed 8lbs 2oz and was 20in long. It was honestly the most incredible experience in the world. Yes it was painful but very quick and manageable for me and I loved the whole thing.
We were so in love the moment we saw him. The look on Ben's face as he stared at our son was so amazing, he was so proud and the love just shined on Carson. When the nurse put him him in my arms I was speechless. I just stared at him in amazement and was thanked the Lord for such a a perfect gift.

-Brendel